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Our Team

Meet Our Team

Allison Ruch

Founder & CEO

Allison is a Chartered Professional Accountant and University of Toronto MBA graduate with over 25 years of distinguished leadership experience. Her business and financial acumen is complemented by her spirit of advocacy and her passion for deep social impact, inclusion and change.

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Ashfaq Hussain

Accounting Coordinator

Ashfaq is a University of Tampa MBA graduate and an experienced accounting professional with a continuous improvement mindset. He believes in providing clients with the best quality service to help them grow their profits and customers. He sees positivity in all, and believes every human has a potential to be successful and contribute to the larger community.

Lee Carwana

Practice Administrator

Lee is an experienced finance professional known for her approachable and cooperative nature. Her expertise lies in fostering strong connections with colleagues, working together to establish efficient processes and system-driven best practices that contribute to ongoing client success.

Lew Emanuel

Controller

Lew Emanuel is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 20 years of dynamic leadership in financial strategy, operational excellence, and post-acquisition integration across multiple sectors, including marketing, consulting, consumer-packaged goods, and not-for-profit organizations. Known for his ability to foster collaborative partnerships and drive systemic improvements, Lew’s expertise lies in optimizing financial reporting, managing risk, and enhancing corporate enterprise value. With a deep commitment to entrepreneurship, Lew specializes in helping business owners create both social and economic wealth.

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Manisha Richards

Accounting Coordinator

Manisha is an experienced professional with over 10 years of work involvement in profit and non-profit environments, in various aspects of accounting and finance. Manisha is an MBA graduate with a degree in Business Administration and Human Resources from D’Youville College located in New York, and also holds an Honours in Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. She continuously strives to learn new things and expand her skills and knowledge, and enjoys being part of a team where she can make a difference with her expertise and can learn from the people around her. Having a strong background in customer service, bookkeeping tasks and process improvements, Manisha strives to help our clients with their everyday goals and challenges.

Maria Malik

Accounting Supervisor

Maria is a Chartered Professional Accountant with an Honors BA from University of Toronto. With over ten years of experience in the accounting field, Maria has served both as an in-house accountant and in the public accounting sphere, delivering financial reports, filing corporate and personal taxes, and creating budgets. Having worked with clients from varied sectors such as retail, construction, and manufacturing, she uses her expertise in financial accounting analysis and strategy development to help business owners achieve their goals.

Ryan Smith

Manager, Special Projects

A Professional Engineer by training, an analytical thinker and problem solver by nature, Ryan spent over 25 years in environmental consulting, leading the investigation and clean-up of contaminated sites and providing clients with strategic and practical advice on managing environmental risk. As a senior owner in a 100% employee-owned firm, Ryan was responsible for ensuring the company’s high standards for safety, quality, integrity and client service were maintained.

His combination of technical knowledge, business acumen, excellent communication skills and easy-going manner have made him a sought-after mentor, colleague, and client manager. Ryan is excited to bring his consulting knowledge and experience to Syncopate, strengthening our business operations team as the firm continues to grow.

Samreen Ghafoor

Controller

Samreen is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a BS in Mathematics, with over 18 years of financial expertise across diverse industries. She excels in delivering accurate financial reports, ensuring compliance, and optimizing resources through financial modeling and budget management. With a deep understanding of sectors like retail, engineering, and IT, Samreen provides valuable insights and tailored financial solutions through her proficiency in accounting analysis and strategy development.

Meet Our Advisory Board

Ed Gough Jr.

Ed Gough, Jr. (Dr. Vibe™) has been the host and producer of the award-winning online show The Dr. Vibe Show™ for over twelve years. He has done over 4000 online interviews with people from all over the world and The Dr. Vibe Show™ has won two awards given by the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (Best Podcast News Award 2020 and The Innovation Award 2018).

Ed is the president of Dr. Vibe Enterprises™ which offers business and podcast coaching, coaching of men and fathers, and personal development coaching. Ed has worked with clients such as Dove Men+Care, ByBlacks.com (Black Canada's number one online magazine), Government Of The Northwest Territories, Centre for Education And Training, the Ontario Ministry Of Children, Community And Social Services, Dad Central: Canada's national Fatherhood organization, Ontario Family Studies and Home Economics Educators Association and the Ontario Association of Children's Aid.

Ed has been a certified coach since June 2015 and has been training coaches since February 2021. Ed also serves as a Business Advisor for the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce’s Elevate Black Business Project and is a Certified GrowthWheel® Trainer.

Sheri Gammon-Dewling

Sheri climbed the corporate ladder at breakneck speed. A Retail Manager by the age of 25, Software Executive by 30, and an entrepreneur for more than 20 years since. Her approach to leadership has always been hands-on until it’s time to move on. During the COVID 19 pandemic Sheri saw an opportunity to combine her love of nature and physical movement with her Coaching Business through her new company Thinking Outside the Building. The forest has become the boardroom as Sheri’s coaching clients benefit from her insights from 30 years of business savvy during forest immersion coaching sessions.

Sheri is a certified Yoga Instructor and Meditation Guide, as well as a published author and a lifelong learner who understands that the intersection of innovation and wisdom is where meaningful transformation begins.

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Advisory Board Alumni

Aisha Francis

Aisha Francis is the founder and executive director of Project: Restore FIBI (Families Impacted by Incarceration), an organization that is pioneering a ‘family-first, family-focused’ approach to address the traumatic and collateral effects of incarceration. She has brought critical ingenuity into the sector prompting best practices informed by lived experiences and grassroots leadership, the advancement of Canadian research and scholarship, education and ongoing policy analysis and review.

Aisha also owns a consulting agency that specializes in helping emerging entrepreneurs gain clarity of their purpose towards the end goal of having a profitable business and a fulfilling profession. In recognition of Aisha’s work and advocacy, she has received the Social Innovation Challenge People’s Choice Award, the Queens Rising Together Inspirational Woman Award and was named one of 2020’s 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women.

Aziz Velji

As a student, teacher and author, Aziz Velji's background encompasses specialized areas of study in philosophy, psychology, meditation practices, quantum physics, brain enhancement, neuroscience, and lucid dreaming (or what is called Dream Yoga). His formal education includes postgraduate degrees in engineering and business management. Aziz has applied these areas of study and formal training to better understand the nature of reality, the relationship between the brain and the mind, and to further advance society, humanity, and most importantly, our potential as human beings.

His book, “CALM BRAIN, POWERFUL MIND: Abolish Stress to Unleash Your True Potential” has recently been published by Paper Lantern Publishing House and is available on Amazon. Aziz also teaches his “Conversations with Friends” series of seminars and workshops which are based on the book.

Khadija Cajee

Khadija Cajee is the co-founder of No Fly List Kids, a group of parents with children who have been falsely flagged on Canada's No Fly List, after discovering her son had been Designated High Profile on this list since birth. The group has grown to represent a movement that has catapulted to the national stage and impacted federal national security legislation. She has testified federally on this issue and has pushed for meaningful change to the legislation.

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Mike Moran

Mike Moran is GHD’s North American CFO. Previously the Global CFO for Golder, he combines his international and Board level experience to help GHD bring new strategic thinking and practical approaches to complex business challenges.

Mike is a CPA, CA and an alumnus of the University of Waterloo. Outside of GHD, Mike spent the past seven years on the Board of ISAND (an autism services not-for-profit in Toronto) and is an Advisory Board member for WebSan Solutions (an IT consulting and solutions provider). Mike and his spouse Lauren have three boys aged 24, 22 and 20.